Dutiful Children
by Proper Prose
Summary: Rin finds that her Servant, Lancer, is quite a handful on top of being an enigma. Since when was being a Master a babysitting job? AU


Dutiful Children

Watching her Servant play by the riverside, Rin Tohsaka wondered when being a Master also started to entail babysitting.

She had long dreamed of becoming a Master, like her father Tokiomi before her. But instead of a proper obedient Servant like his, she was stuck with a child.

As in an actual, literal child and not just some quirky Servant that acted like one.

Though Lancer did have his quirks.

Currently he was skipping rocks on the river and had been at it for about an hour or so. Even without the enhanced strength of a Servant, Rin knew he was still quite strong -more than a child his size should be- so each stone he threw went quite a distance. Not only that, but his posture and technique spoke of a great deal of training.

He was throwing stones for fun, but someone had taught him to do it to kill. Just what has this child gone through in life to gain such skill?

More frustrating was that she knew next to nothing about him. Lancer had been outright hostile to the concept of sharing personal details about himself. The teal haired youth would not budge, not even under the threat of a Command Seal. As such, he was not as powerful as he should have been. The bond could not be properly formed without the knowledge of his True Name.

He still fought like a devil though, when the occasion called for it, and seemed to relish a challenge. But when not on active duty, Lancer seemed to prefer to play and do things any child his physical age seemed to do. Rarely would he shift to astral form when he could be partaking in sports or monopolizing the appropriately unused television and computer in her and Sakura's dorm.

And she was in no way envious of the fact Lancer had in a few days surpassed her in using modern technology. Even if Chaldea was pioneering revolutionary magecraft by augmenting it with science, Magus had no need of such things, after all.

Yet thank goodness Chaldea was fronting the prana for maintaining Servants. If it had just been her alone, Lancer's rambunctious nature probably would have done her in by now.

Still, at least his temperament left her plenty of opportunities to study as she did now. Such an unruly Servant might have hurt her standing with the Masters Course students, especially considering her vow to summon and contract a Saber fell flat on its face, but her grades did not need to be similarly affected. She may not have Emiya's combat skill or Matou's somehow stable relationship with his Servant, but they lacked her intellect and her in-depth knowledge of magecraft.

She was a magus of the Tohsaka. She was a Master of Lancer. She was a defender of humanity. All high honors. It was these truths that made her Rin Tohsaka.

Lancer must have gotten bored with throwing stones at some point because he was now sitting next to her on the blanket. Soon he would be pestering her to take him somewhere else.

"Are you done yet?"

Ah, just as she predicted. "No. I'm still studying."

"You're always studying." Lancer groaned, wondering how he had ended up with such a boring master. "Is it really that important?"

Rin recalled that her parents said there was a time when no magus could study their art out in the open like this. They would have to hide in their homes, huddled away in workshops and carry on magecraft in secret. But that was nearly two decades ago. As much disdain as she had for Chaldea's integration of science, for the Tohsaka would always be old fashioned magi she supposed, she did thank them for times such as these.

"Yes, Lancer, it really is that important." She answered.

"Why?"

Rin smiled. "Because I am a Tohsaka."

* * *

Runestones. Lancer knew how to make

Runestones.

She was not sure why he had left her desk covered in them, but from his own mouth Lancer admitted to making them. She supposed that perhaps he was getting back at her for ignoring him for a whole day to focus on her newest experiment of transcribing different types of runes onto her gemstones.

However, while made out of common stones, these were genuine runestones. The runes were carefully and perfectly transcribed, while the polished stones were brimming with power. Faintly, Rin realized that she should be slightly more concerned that her Servant had left a pile of incendiary explosives in her dorm room, but it all seemed unreal. No way an ordinary magus could make objects so fine with such common material. Rin was almost certain that Lancer had just plucked these stones out from around the campus shrubbery.

When asked how he knew to make them, Lancer merely shrugged. "Can't say."

* * *

Weeks into the school year they had been following that creep Matou when Rin suddenly started to pull Lancer away when the purple haired boy pulled out a cell phone that neither one of them had heard go off.

As much as she disliked Matou, despite their families histories together, she would not interrupt any conversation Shinji had with his 'mother'. It was an unspoken rule of the Masters Course by this point, not that any besides her or Sakura understood why.

Lancer smartly decided not to press the matter. Rin was not certain if she had the stomach to explain.

* * *

Not for the first time, Rin found herself in a cell after Lancer engaged in an unsanctioned battle with another Master's Servant.

Calling a battle was being generous, with no small amount of pride, she could say that the boy had completely trounced the other Servant. However, this still presented problems. Battles being Servants in the Masters Course we're strictly forbidden unless cleared by the school and even then only for sparring purposes. Furthermore, it made it look like Run could not control her own Servant, which was the last thing her reputation needed at the moment.

The one sided fight lasted all of two minutes before Campus Security and their Servants arrived to pacify the offending parties. Now she and Lancer sat inside of a cell in the security office. Presumably the other Master and Servant were in a similar cell down the hall.

Lancer sat in a huff, clearly unhappy. His casual clothing was gone, replaced by his battle attire, which was little more than a blue shirt, tan pants and some leather armor, the moment he started swinging at the other Servant. His lance and rhinestones had been confiscated, the security forces somehow able to keep weapons from Servants by unknown means.

They would be here while Campus Security investigated the incident until they were interviewed. At which point they would probably be shoved back into the cell for the night as a lesson of humility.

Why did she have such an unruly Servant?

"Sorry about all of this, Master." Lancer spoke for the first time since the fight. "But I had to do it."

"Why?" Rin replied sharply.

"I just had to." He answered. "I can't help it. He said I couldn't fight."

Ron recalled that the other Servant said that Lancer '_shouldn't'_ fight, but Lancer might have taken that differently. Point was that Lancer started the fight by swinging first and now she was paying for it.

But those were the justifications that Lancer almost always used to explain his actions. 'I had to.' 'I can't help it.' 'I can't say.' She had always known it, but it was now that it truly dawned on her just how much she did not know about her Servant.

They were disturbed when, strangely, Emiya's father Kiritsugu entered the cell hall. Everyone knew that he, the rumored Magus Killer, worked for Chaldea but no one knew just what capacity aside from assisting in weapons training. His servant, Gunner, was nowhere to be found, probably either in astral form or coordinating away from his Master.

"My family asked me to give this to you. Take it and study its contents carefully. It will help improve your relationship with your Servant."

He threw a package into the cell through the bars, his expression never changing. The package landed on the floor with a small thud. Weighty, but not heavy. It landed close enough that Rin did not need to leave the cell bed to pick it up. Contained in the thin brown paper was clearly a book.

"Mr. Emiya, it this some kind of tome? Does it contained rituals or spells that will help control Lancer?" The Servant flashed an angry glare at her, but Rin ignored it. Let the brat stew awhile. She started tearing away at the wrapping paper.

"Something like that." Despite his usual demeanor with students, that of the stern mentor, Kiritsugu allowed himself a small smile.

Now free of the paper, Rin gazed at the title of the tome she held.

_Parenting for Dummies._

Lacking any of the measured control that Kiritsugu had thrown it into the cell with, Rin tossed it back at him. It smacked against the bars and fell to floor impotently. The rumored hit man did not even flinch.

Lancer's mood had miraculously done a one-eighty. His throes of laughter had caused him to roll off the cot and onto the floor. Which probably was the goal all along. Emiya did say his father went out of his way to ensure the well being of children and Lancer was, to date, the only child Servant that they knew of.

Despite that, Rin would not let this man mock her. Fuming, she rested her back against the wall and got mentally prepared for the interview.

The cell and hall still echoed with Lancer's laughter for some time.

* * *

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Rin Tohsaka knew she was dreaming. Not just any dream, but actually witnessing the life events of her Servants. Why else would she be standing in an open field just outside a castle watching Lancer get the stuffing beaten out of him?

She was pretty sure that there was not a single part of Lancer that did not carry a bruise. His skin was a canvas of purple and black. Some parts were red were the skin had broken and blood oozed out. He looked much younger than he did as a Servant and he already looked young, a pre-teen most certainly.

He was on his knees. Only his hold on quarterstaff, a death grip where his knuckles were bone white, kept him from falling to the ground. Upturned dirt around the area and his heavy breathing showed that his bruising a had not been quick process. It had been hours of torture.

That all Rin could think to call it. Torture.

Standing across from him was a woman with a quarterstaff of her. She was hauntingly beautiful, the air of the supernatural hung around her. Black hair was tied back and her curvaceous, muscled frame was taut and ready to continue. She did not appear to have a single injury on her. A clear contrast to her opponent.

"Are you satisfied boy or do you wish to continue this nonsense?" She asked.

With a pained effort that brought a scream from his throat, Lancer was back on his feet instantly. Ready to fight even as he used his weapon as a crutch to stand. "'Can't… stop… Got t'... win!"

So even in life he possessed a seemingly inhuman stubbornness.

The woman sighed sadly, but brought her weapon to bear. "My dear, cursed son, what am I to do with you?"

A single strike that Lancer no longer had the speed or strength to block struck him the abdomen and sent him flying off his feet. He landed hard on the ground, coughing a mix of bile and blood.

"Even without that curse, you would probably be like this." His mother said. "You have stubborn parents after all. Still, the only way to make you stop fighting is to force you." She raised her staff for another strike and no matter how much she wished she could, Rin could not stop the blow from happening.

"Try to rest this time, my son."

The dream went dark.

* * *

"Why did your mother do that?"

Lancer looked at her with a questioning stare. "It was a challenge. Why do you study magecraft?"

"Because it's my family's legacy." Run answered, holding the boy close. A detestable book laid on the nightstand, a bookmark held deep in its pages.

"Then there's your answer."

It had been weeks she they had met, yet the two still could not understand each other.

But perhaps, in time, they could.

* * *

Chaldea Masters Course License

Student: Rin Tohsaka

Age: 17

Original Residence: Fuyuki City, Japan

(Note: While a gifted student, a genius to be sure, Rin has had trouble interacting with other students and her own Servant. Participation in group activities has shown improvement, but she still interacts with sister almost exclusively outside of that. I had hoped interact with Shirou Emiya-Einzbern would show more improvement as they two seem to graduate to each other, but it seems more of an alliance than a personal relationship. I am at a loss.)

Servant: Lancer

True Name: Unknown

Origin: Unknown, possibly Europe

Noble Phantasm(s):

Unknown

(Note: We know very little about this child Servant summoned by the Tohsaka girl. Very reluctant or outright incapable of divulging details about his life, but has given an account as to his combat abilities. Though a Lancer, he states that his weapon, while powerful, is not his Noble Phantasm. He also has training in magecraft as well as a level of strength unusual for a child his age. A powerful enchantment, perhaps a Noble Phantasm, prevents a proper scanning of his True Name or abilities. I recommend caution when dealing with Servant, as the fact that he is a child aside, he demonstrates a wild temperament.)


End file.
